The Milsian Princess
by AJMarks
Summary: The Galactica, her crew, and the rag-tag fleet stumble across a civilization called the Milsians. They are fighting a group called the Alliance. The Milsians appear trusting, but is there something more sinister working in the shadows? Who can Adama trust, especially with the fleet running low of fuel and supplies.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimers: I don't own "Battlestar Galactica", the Milsian characters are based on an original story I wrote and is one sale, called 'The Cimalian Princess: Invasion".

The Milsian Princess

By AJ Marks

Part 1

Captain Mark Cave glanced around the bridge of the Nevada. One of the newest Alliance battle-cruisers even though the ship now approached its twentieth year in service. The ship had served constantly since its commission and now, he knew, the ship needed a refit.

"Captain, incoming message from HQ," Kim, his second in command said.

"Put it though," Mark said, wondering what mission they needed the battle-cruiser for now.

"Captain, glad I caught you," Admiral Corey Pappas said.

"Admiral, you know the Nevada isn't scheduled to leave until tomorrow," Mark replied, now sure what was going on.

"Well, we've had a slight problem, Serria is under attack," Corey replied.

"What!" Mark all but shouted startling most of the crew.

"We have reason to believe it's the Milsian Empire again," he said.

Mark groaned at that information. If they were attacking again things could get messy for sure.

"We'll head to Serria at once," Mark said.

"Good, but there is one more thing, you'll have an 'advisor' on board," Corey said. "Senator Agnat and Vicess will be going with you to make sure the peace is upheld."

"Making sure the peace is upheld? They are the one attacking us," Mark said. He also recognized one of the names. Agnat wanted to defund the military to show the Milsian Empire that the Alliance wanted peace.

"So when should I expect the senators?" Mark asked.

"They will be arriving in an hour, then you are to move to Serria and assess the situation," Corey said. "Be careful, we have yet to restore any communications with Serria."

"We will admiral, Nevada out," Mark said as the conversation ended. He slumped into the chair not sure he liked this at all.

"Kim, prepare two official visitors rooms for the senators. I don't know how long they are staying, and their staff," Mark said.

"How many staff members?"

"I have no idea," Mark replied. "Set up say ten each."

"Very well captain," Kim said.

He watched her walk away, knowing that things had gotten very complex in a very short time. He had no idea exactly how complex things were about to become.

Apollo glanced over at Starbuck, who sat with Cassiopeia sharing a laugh about something.

"Hey, what are you doing here," another voice said. Apollo glanced up to see Sheba making her way towards him.

"Relaxing, I guess," Apollo replied.

"He's on another date with Cassie I see," Sheba said.

"Yeah, looks like they are getting serious," Apollo replied.

"Serious and Starbuck, those words do not belong together," Sheba replied, smiling.

Apollo started to reply when the announcement for him to contact the bridge came over the intercom. He looked at Sheba and shrugged heading over to the communicator.

"Captain Apollo here," he said.

"Captain, you're wanted on the bridge, the commander wishes to speak with you," Colonel Tigh's voice said.

"Be right there," Apollo replied.

"What did you do now?" Sheba asked.

"No idea, guess I'll find out when I get there," Apollo said, making eye contact with Starbuck as he left. A few moments later he walked onto the bridge heading straight for the commander.

"Apollo, good," Adama said. "I have a mission for you. We're getting some low-frequency transmissions, however they are too garbled to gain anything. I don't want to alter the fleet course to check it out, so I need one pilot to take CORA out."

"I have just the pilot," Apollo said.

"Good, they launch as soon as possible," Adama said.

"I got it," Apollo said, hoping Starbuck didn't take this too personally.

BSGBSG

The bald man turned slightly looking annoyed at the man who dared disturb his thinking.

"I'm sorry Lord Tony, but you wished to be notified when phase one was completed," the cowering man said.

"And," Tony said.

"Jurez states they only await your word to start the next phase," the man said.

"Good," Tony replied. He stopped for a second with the realization that now he had opportunity to eliminate several thorns in his side. "Tell the admiral to begin, and use the Kitakkim for this mission," he said.

"Yes sir," the man replied, bowing deeply before heading off to carry out the orders.

Tony sat down with a smile. He wrote up an order sending it out to take care of one last problem.

"You better eliminate her," a sing-song like voice said.

Tony glanced over to see a child walk out of the shadows.

"Don't worry, I intend to. Olin will have his orders," Tony said.

"If you say so," she replied before disappearing into the shadows once more.

Tony shook his head at his daughter before returning to the message. Once Crystal was eliminated all threats to his throne would finally be eliminated.

BSGBSG

Starbuck glared at Apollo. His friend had picked him for a special recon mission. He would have been even more annoyed if not for the fact Cassiopeia had been called away with a medical emergency microns before. No, the real reason for his annoyance, CORA.

"She responds better to you than anyone else," Apollo stated.

"I know," Starbuck replied, still annoyed. "She's like an annoying brat who thinks she's better than anyone else."

"And she saved your life by pulling out faster than you could handle," Apollo said.

"Don't remind me, and at the cost of a lot of ambrosia," Starbuck said. That stash could have made him rich.

Starbuck hopped into the specially modified viper. The fact he had no weapons did not help him out, but speed might be better this time.

"So, they are intercepting messages at the moment," Starbuck said.

"That's the mission, investigate and see if you can find the source. It is a bit strange as the signals have stopped, so be careful," Apollo said.

"Don't worry, I plan on coming back in one piece," Starbuck said, booting up CORA.

"Welcome Starbuck," CORA said.

"Hello CORA," Starbuck answered.

"Good luck," Apollo sad, backing away as the canopy closed.

Starbuck checked over everything to make sure the systems were working all right. Once he received clearance he launched the viper heading out on his patrol, with one talkative computer. He knew it would be a long mission.

BSGBSG

Crystal walked over to her fighter making sure to inspect it. She did not need a malfunction in the middle of battle. Pushing a lock of reddish hair out of her face she leaned towards one of the lasers inspecting the wiring.

"Everything to your liking?" a voice said.

Crystal jumped slightly hitting her head. Rubbing the spot she turned to see the head mechanic, Marcus walking towards her.

"Just fine," she replied to him.

"Good, the squadron commander's been riding us pretty hard lately," he replied. She heard the bitter tone that he had understanding where it came from. The squadron commander, Olin, had been born to a higher ranking class than either she or Marcus. In fact she had been born in one of the lowest classes in the Milsian Empire, the same level as Marcus.

The fact they shared some common background caused her to be closer to the mechanics and deck hands than the other pilots. Only her exceptional skill kept her from being a mechanic or something worse.

"So, we're actually going to go to war this time for real," Marcus stated.

"Yeah, the liberation is to occur," Crystal said. She would have said more but the Kitakkim went to red alert.

"Well, I better get going," Marcus said. She watched him head over to his station giving orders.

Crystal finished her inspection jumping into her fighter even as the first pilots raced into the hangar. She spotted Olin walking through. His messy black hair and arrogant stride as he made his way to his fighter. His sills were not that good and Crystal knew the reason he had made flight commander. He was distantly related to the royal family.

"One battle-cruiser approaching, operation is to destroy," the orders came in.

Crystal launched out quickly forming up with her wingman waiting to engage in battle.

BSGBSG

Mark made eye contact with Kim rolling his eyes at her amused look. The senators currently stood off to the side watching everything the crew did on the bridge. Senator Agnot even took notes. What the man wrote Mark had no idea. He saw nothing worth writing at the moment.

"Captain, we have several contacts around Serria," Hans, the scanner operator, said.

"Put it up here," Mark said.

"Yes sir."

Mark studied the scans knowing that Serria did not have that many ships. It had to be the Milsian Empire causing trouble once more.

"Shields up, red alert," Mark said.

"Is that really necessary captain," a voice said.

Mark sighed looking over at the senator. "Unless you want this ship blown up while you're still on it then yes," Mark replied.

"And aggressive behavior will be answered with aggressive behavior. To cancel that you must show you are ready for peace," Agnot said, causing Mark the unconscious thought of slapping the senator. He quickly recovered. He could not afford to daydream in this situation.

"It's not like I'm launching fighters and engaging the moment we drop out of jump speed," Mark said.

"But really captain, red alert?" the senator replied.

"I have to agree, the shields are a good idea," Senator Vicess said. "Caution is the better course of action here."

Mark watched the two senators argue for a moment, before turning to the scanners watching. He looked for anything that might tell him exactly who they were. The Nevada ended her jump and at that moment he spotted additional smaller ships launching from the larger ships.

"Look sharp, we have incoming fighters," Mark said as now the scanners could fully identify the ships around Serria. Two Milsian battle-cruisers and at least a dozen other small ships waiting for him to arrive.

"How long until the jump engines are recharged?" Mark asked.

"Ten minutes," Kim replied.

"Dam," Mark replied. "Full power heading away from the planet."

"Yes sir."

Mark heard the growl of the engines coming to full power, and the massive ship turned away from the planet. He could not outrun the fighters, but they would not be able to destroy the ship in the little time they had. He toyed with the idea of launching his own fighters, but decided recovering the fighters would only delay leaving the planet. He would rely on the defensive abilities of the Nevada, and her shields, to survive.

BSGBSG

Crystal acknowledged her attack order. Try to disable the engines if they could. She seriously doubted they would be able to with the weapon strength of the fighters and the shield strength of the warship. They would be lucky to not have serious damage to any fighters.

The distanced closed rapidly and finally they were within firing range. That also meant the battle-cruiser could fire back. Within moments of the fighters opening fire the battle-cruiser replied right back.

Crystal pressed the fire button watching several lasers streak towards the ship impacting on the shields. Return fire streaked past her as she dodged it easily. She saw one orange explosion indicating the destruction of one fighter.

She made a second and on her third pass she felt the fighter jump slightly. She frowned then saw lasers streak from behind her. She turned quickly but the lasers followed her. Glancing at her scanner she saw no enemy fighters. One of her own had targeted her. Another hit and her fighter suffered critical damage to the steering. She growled frustrated slightly at the fact she now headed straight for the enemy ship with no way to avoid it.

BSGBSG

Mark felt the Nevada rock slightly as he glanced quickly at the damage report.

"One enemy fighter crashed into the hangar," Kim stated.

Mark nodded wondering what type of damage had occurred there. He hoped Jack was all right, his friend who happened to be the squadron commander on the ship.

"Damage control teams on the way," Kim said.

Mark looked down at the jump engines receiving word they were finally ready to go again. "Helm, get us out of here," he ordered.

He heard the engines come to life with a high pitch whine. Seconds later the Nevada jumped out of the battle zone.

BSGBSG

Starbuck looked at his scanner noticing heavy activity around one planet.

"CORA, I'm seeing a lot of ships around that planet," Starbuck stated.

"Yes there are, shall we investigate?" CORA said.

Starbuck thought about that for a few seconds before replying. "We better," he finally said. He knew that the commander would want more information about the scanner contact.

He maneuvered the viper closer into the system trying to gain a better look at what exactly appeared to be going on. A lot of smaller fighter type craft were chasing another larger ship. So far the scanners had been unable to identify any ship in the area.

Starbuck continued to watch getting closer finally able to gain information that the smaller ships were fighters and the larger ship was a warship. The warship suddenly accelerated faster than anything Starbuck had ever seen quickly disappearing off his scanners.

"Any way to track that CORA?" he asked.

"Negative Starbuck," CORA replied.

"It all right, didn't think so," he replied. He still wanted to get closer to see who piloted the unknown fighters.

Moments later he got close enough to get a good scan of one of the fighters. He felt slightly relieved when the word 'human' appeared on the scanners.

"Starbuck," CORA's voice said breaking his thoughts.

"What is it?" Starbuck said.

"We have company," CORA answered.

Starbuck glanced at the scanners noticing for the first time the fighters now approached him. "Any communications?"

"I am picking up the first attempts now. Shall I put it through?"

"You better," Starbuck said.

"Attention unknown vessel, you are ordered to follow us now," the voice said. "Any attempt to flee will be met with hostile force."

Starbuck groaned at the message. How did he always find himself in this position?

"Starbuck, what are you going to do?"

"Listen, CORA, I'm going to see if I can figure out what's going on. Until I say so, do not say anything to any stranger, understand?" he said.

"Yes Starbuck."

Starbuck switched his communications over to the one he had before answering. "This is Lieutenant Starbuck of the Battlestar Galactica. I come in peace," he said, somehow finding that phrase slightly amusing as he said it.

"Please follow us," was his only reply.

Starbuck switched his communications back to normal sending a message that he found an advanced race of humans and had made contact. He hoped to follow that up a bit later.

BSGBSG

Adama looked up as Colonel Tigh walked into his office. From the look on his friend's face he knew the news to be bad.

"Sorry to disturb you commander, but we received a communications from the patrol," Tigh said.

"Starbuck?" Adama said watching Tigh nod his head.

"Yes sir, the news is promising," Tigh replied. "He is making contact with an advanced race of humans."

"That's wonderful news, perhaps," Adama said. They might have finally found Earth he thought. "I still want this news held tightly. We don't need unnecessary strain among the people."

"I understand sir," Tigh said. "I informed Athena and Rigel to only contact you or me when Starbuck made contact."

"Good," Adama said. "I guess now the only thing we can do, is wait until he makes contact again."

"And if he doesn't?" Tigh asked.

"I don't know," Adama said. That decision would wait until the time actually came. Adama hoped he would not have to make that decision.

BSGBSG

Mark glanced over at the two senators waiting to hear their reply. "Well, we were attacked, again, by the Milsian Empire, or do you disagree that they were not Milsian in origin?"

"I'm sure that there is a reasonable explanation," Agnot replied.

"Yeah, they are attacking us again, breaking another treaty. When will you understand, all they want is to destroy us and take over," Mark said.

"I think you're being a bit extreme captain. No intelligent civilization is like that," Agnot replied.

"And you are ignoring history. The Milsians will not rest, it is their entire goal since the breakup of the Confederation three hundred years ago," Mark said.

"I will not be spoken to that way," Agnot replied stiffly. He turned walking off the bridge in anger leaving Mark feeling weary at the exchange.

"I'm afraid that I do see both sides to this argument," Vicess said. "I will reserve my judgment until I have more information."

Mark nodded watching the other senator leave the bridge. Mark rubbed a hand over his face wishing he could be someone else.

"Um, captain," Kim said. He turned to see her looking slightly unsure. He wondered what type of news she had this time.

"Go on ahead," Mark said.

"Well captain, the damage control crews discovered the body of the pilot of the Milsian pilot, still alive. She's been transferred to med-lab," she said.

Mark sighed at that news. Great, a prisoner situation was the last thing he needed at the moment. He felt slightly relieved that neither senator heard that news. He had some time to do something and find out some information from the pilot provided she survived.

"All right, have some guards posted outside the med-lab. Tell the doc I'll be down to see what's going on and to keep it all hush-hush. The last thing I need right now is for the two senators to get involved," Mark stated.

"Yes sir," Kim replied.

Mark had the feeling things were about to get real interesting real quick.

BSGBSG

Starbuck climbed out of the viper after powering down the engines. He glanced around at the nervous group of people. He spotted three men armed watching him intently. Their eyes drawn straight to his blaster, something he thought about taking off but decided against it.

He stepped away from his viper waiting for what would happen next. Another man, tall, bald and with an eye-patch stepped onto the hangar. Starbuck knew right away this man was the commander by the way everyone else acted.

The man approached unafraid of the fact Starbuck was armed. Of course Starbuck realized if he tried anything he probably would be dead before turning around to his viper.

"Interesting fighter," the man finally said, stopping in front of Starbuck.

"Uh, thanks, I think," Starbuck replied. "She's served me well so far."

"You're not dressed in the Alliance style, so who are you?" he asked.

Starbuck felt slightly off-balance by the questions the man asked. "Um, Alliance?" Starbuck asked wondering if they knew the Alliance at all. "No, we're actually enemies of the Alliance, or at least they don't like us."

"Really?' the man said. "Very interesting indeed. So the Alliance has more enemies?"

"Um, I thought they had only one enemy," Starbuck said, now confused by this turn of events.

"Doesn't matter," the man said. "I am Admiral Jurez."

"Lieutenant Starbuck," he replied not sure if 'Admiral' was the man's first name or rank.

"Come, you must tell me what you know, where you come from," the tall man said, placing an arm around Starbuck's shoulders and almost dragging him along to the elevator. Starbuck felt uneasy about what was happening.

The two of them ended up in a room looking well maintained and with very comfortable looking chairs.

"Have a seat," Jurez said, walking over and sitting down himself. "Can I offer you a drink Starbuck?"

"Um, sure," Starbuck replied, watching Jurez push a button and tell the person for two drinks. The man almost seemed to bow before rushing to carry out the orders. Starbuck watched as the man placed the drinks of the table before glancing at Jurez and almost rushing out of the room.

"Ah, fine vintage," Jurez said taking a sip of the drink. "Now, what ship are you from?"

"The Battlestar Galactica," Starbuck replied.

"Interesting," Jurez replied. "I've never heard of a battlestar, what type of this is it, like a battle-cruiser?"

"I don't know, it's our warship," Starbuck said. He did not want to give up too much information too soon. "I do have one question for you, have you heard of Earth?"

Starbuck watched the man stop suddenly at the question raising Starbuck's hopes.

"Yes, I have heard of it," Jurez said and Starbuck leaned forward with excitement. "Perhaps we should meet with your leaders?"

Starbuck had to agree with that. This news required someone who could speak better for the fleet, like the commander.

"I shall contact my superiors and let you know then you can go back with the information and return," Jurez said.

Starbuck thought that to be a good idea. "All right."

BSGBSG

Tony listened to Jurez for several minutes before speaking up. "So, you think this Starbuck is telling the truth?"

"Yes emperor," Jurez replied.

Tony thought about that. An unknown person who claimed to be enemies of the Alliance sounded too good to be true. He had to know more about who they were, where they came from and exactly what they wanted.

"You've done well admiral, make contact with the leaders and see if you can find out that information. We need it to move on. I also need to know if they will be a threat to our rule later on or not," Tony said.

"I won't let you down sire," Jurez said.

"You better not," Tony said. "And the other mission?"

"It was done sire, she is dead," Jurez replied.

"Good, remember, I'm counting on you admiral," Tony said. He ended the conversation but the new development worried him slightly. He rang for his aide who came running into the office.

"Sire?"

"Bring me the historians at once," Tony said. He would have them look for any groups who left Earth and had been forgotten due to time. He did not care how long ago, or if it was considered a myth he needed that information.

End Part 1


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimers: See Part 1

The Milsian Princess

By AJ Marks

Part 2

Mark glanced in at the doctor who looked on at a patient, a small woman with red hair. He glanced over at the medical chart indicating the damage the woman had taken. He had to admit he did not expect to see a woman pilot.

"Ah, captain, glad you made it," the doctor said.

"Tommy, how's our patient doing?" Mark asked.

"Quite well actually," Tommy replied. "Aside from a few bruises I'm very surprised. It appears she hit her head knocking her out, quite possibly saving her from even more serious injuries."

"I see," Mark stated. He hoped maybe he could gain some information from the woman about why the Milsian Empire again attacked the Alliance. He thought that the last treaty ten years ago would finally hold. "Any idea of when she'll awaken?"

"Not really, could be anywhere from now to tomorrow. It's still hard to tell with head injuries," Tommy replied.

"I understand," Mark said, as they both glanced back down at the patient. Mark noticed a slight flexing of her hand. "Is that normal?" he asked, pointing to the hand.

"It could be an indication she is about to wake up," Tommy said.

Mark went to say more when he suddenly found himself on the ground followed quickly by the doctor. Two guards rushed into the room weapons drawn.

"Freeze!"

"Don't move!"

Mark glanced at the woman who seemed to struggle to stay balanced to the two guards. He made sure Tommy appeared uninjured before taking control of the situation.

"It's all right," he said to the guards. "Wait outside, that's an order."

Mark watched the guards hesitate for several seconds. The order from the captain warring with their training as they glanced from the woman to the captain before finally backing out of the room.

Mark waited a few seconds for the woman to focus on him after the guards left the room. "May I get up now?' he asked her.

When she didn't answer or move he slowly stood up motioning for Tommy to do so as well. Mark watched Tommy then motioned him to back away as he pulled up a chair and sat down. The woman had not moved nor had she taken her eyes off either of them. He could tell from her stance and previous moves she knew how to fight. Her small stature would be an advantage in the small space.

"Well, that's quite some reflexes you've got there," Mark said finally. He watched the woman still say nothing. "I'm Captain Mark Cave of the battle-cruiser Nevada."

He waited calmly watching her until she finally answered back.

"Alliance ship?" she asked.

"Yes," Mark replied. "You attacked my ship, it seems the Milsian Empire is once more attacking the Alliance after ten years of peace. I had hoped we could finally have peace."

"Liberation is needed," Mark thought he heard the woman say. He frowned at the words, 'liberation' and wondered what that meant.

He watched her sway slightly before finally passing out. He quickly caught her before she could hit the ground and placed her back on the bed. He was amazed at how light she felt to him, then again she had to be at most five foot two.

Tommy came over quickly checking her out. "Still needs rest," he said, taking some blood.

"Thought you already took some, you know, part of the normal procedure?" Mark stated, half asking.

"Yeah, it came back with some unusual chemicals, running it though again this time only for that. If it's what the computer says, it's a memory drug, used to alter memories," Tommy said.

Mark's eyebrows rose at that. "All right, keep me informed, we'll be arriving at Pacifica shortly," Mark said.

"I will," Tommy replied.

Mark walked off wondering more and more what was going on. A drugged pilot, talk of liberation, and who knows what else. He only hoped a full-scale war was not coming.

BSGBSG

Adama listened to what Starbuck said about the short meeting he had with this Admiral Jurez. Adama felt a bit uneasy at the mention of the Alliance, and the fact that when Earth had been brought up Jurez suggested the leaders get together.

"So, you think they might know something about Earth?" Adama asked Starbuck.

"Well, he got real quiet and a lot more interested," Starbuck said.

"And what do you think about them?" Adama asked.

"Sounds like we are dropping in on a war, I have no idea though if they think we can help them or not," Starbuck stated.

Adama nodded thinking the same thing. If the Alliance was fighting this group it's unsure if they even know who they are attacking.

"Sorry father, but the Eastern Alliance out here, it sounds a bit strange. Their ships were not that well equipped for long distance travel," Apollo said, speaking up.

"I know Apollo," Adama stated. "They are also the only Alliance we know of and are hostile towards us. We must proceed with caution, and meet with this Admiral Jurez to gain more information."

"He said to return any time and how to communicate," Starbuck said.

"I suggest only I go, with two pilots to minimize the risk of capture," Adama finally said.

"And an escort," Apollo said speaking up. Adama glanced over at his son seeing the look in his eyes. "Very well, an escort."

I suggest we get ready then, I have a council to address and update," Adama said. He already planned how to approach the council with the information he had. He also felt sure at least one would want to come. Adama had to convince them it was better if they did not go in case something did go wrong. Adama knew they were not military people, and while age had dulled his reflexes a bit, he was still a trained warrior.

BSGBSG

Mark glanced up at the sound of his office door opening. He sighed mentally seeing Agnot walk in.

"Senator, what can I do for you?" Mark said. He had hoped the last encounter on the bridge would have been his last encounter until the senator left the ship.

"I wanted to give you a chance to explain your actions one last time before I finish my report," Agnot said.

"I'm not sure what there is to explain," Mark said, rubbing his temple. "You were on the bridge, what aggressive actions did I take?"

"Raising of shields could be considered a hostile action," Agnot replied.

"And launching a full complement of fighters is not?" Mark countered.

"That is beside the point," the senator replied, his tone angry.

"And when they started shooting us they would have destroyed our engines rather quickly. Which would you rather be senator, dead, floating in space, or alive to argue with me about it?" Mark said growing angry himself.

"It should have been left to a diplomat and a channel opened, that's what!"

"Well, next time we're in that situation I'll send you out in a shuttle so you can talk to them. My responsibility is to keep everyone on board this ship safe," Mark replied back.

"Well, I can see the training of the military now. That will have to change," Agnot said, leaving the office.

Mark closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair letting the anger fade away.

"That sounded exciting," a familiar voice said.

Mark opened his eyes to see John standing there. "It was, wanna trade spots?" Mark asked.

"Um, no," John replied smiling. "I would have ended up throwing something at him."

"Yeah, you would have," Mark replied knowing his friend. "How are the pilots doing? Did we lose anyone in the fighting?"

"We lost seven in the hanger," John said. "And somehow the pilot survived? When did they start taking up suicide attacks?"

"You might be interested to know that the Milsians shot her down themselves," Mark said.

"What?!"

"See for yourself," Mark replied, pulling the scanner logs for John to see. Mark watched his friend's face at the scanner report until it finally ended.

"I don't get it, why?" John finally said. "That was deliberate, no doubt about it. You said she? Is she conscious?"

"Not yet, doctor said she's drugged on some memory modifier," Mark replied. "Tell everyone to keep this quiet. The last thing we need is for the senator's to find out about this."

"No problem there, they find out about her and we won't know anything about what happened, or why they tried to shoot her down," John said.

"I know," Mark replied. "I can only hope we figure out what's going on before the politicians sign our surrender."

"That bad?" John asked.

"Eh, probably not, but it sure feels like it," Mark replied. "I don't know, I'll wait to see what the old man says."

"If Admiral Pappas hears that…"

"He'd say it was funny," Mark said. "Who do you think I got it from!"

"Okay, let me know what else comes up. Are we going to get any replacements?" John asked.

"I don't know, last time I looked the replacement pool was dangerously low," Mark said. "For now, don't count on it."

"Great," John replied.

"Budget cuts," Mark stated. "Well, organize it as best you can, I trust your abilities."

Mark heard John turn then walked back out. Seven pilots actually was a serious blow to the operational functionality of the ship. He would worry about that later after talking to the Admiral. He hoped HQ had some information.

BSGBSG

Adama walked off the shuttle onto the ship noticing the hanger and the familiarity of it all. Even on another warship hangers all seemed to operate the same. He glanced over to see a tall bald man walk towards him. Adama glanced over at Starbuck no nodded. Adama straightened waiting as the man stopped in front of him.

"Welcome aboard the Kitakkim, I'm Admiral Jurez," the man said.

"I'm Commander Adama of the Battlestar Galactica," Adama replied.

"Lieutenant Starbuck good to see you again," Jurez said.

"You too," Starbuck said.

"Let us get comfortable," Jurez said.

Adama walked along with the admiral sensing an underlying current of tension in the air. At first he thought the tension directed at him and his crew but it seemed more fear of the admiral than anything else. That intrigued him a bit. The group finally reached an office room and Adama sat down looking around. The technology in the room impressed him, large screens all over the place in rich color.

Adama watched the admiral order drink from an aide who hurried off quickly bringing back several glasses placing them on the table in front of everyone. With one more glance at the admiral the aide left leaving the admiral, and two other men along with Adama, and his three warriors, Apollo, Starbuck and Boomer.

"Commander Adama, I'm afraid that you have me at a disadvantage here. You know of Earth, but we have no records of your group? Perhaps you might enlighten us," Jurez stated.

"Well, actually we only have mention of Earth through our legends and myths," Adama stated, watching Jurez's face show confusion on it.

"Your myths and legends, but you knew it existed? How long ago did you leave?" Jurez asked.

"Actually according to our legends Earth is the thirteenth tribe of humanity. When humanity left Kobal twelve settled on the twelve Colonies," Adama said. He could see by the confusion in the man's face he had never heard of anything Adama said. "The thirteenth tribe left and settled on Earth."

"You're saying that humanity did not originate on Earth?" Jurez said.

"Yes," Adama replied. He watched the man glance over at a couple of other people knowing they found his story preposterous. Adama wondered what type of history they had on Earth, and if they even still knew about Kobal. Being isolated the people of Earth might have forgotten all about them. A possibility he knew about from the moment they left the colonies.

"And you're here to reunite to long lost brothers, or something like that?" Jurez asked.

"Not exactly, more like humanity's last hope for survival," Adama said. "You see for the past thousand yahrens we have been at war with a race called the Cylons."

"Yahrens and Cylons?" Jurez said.

"Yes, yahrens a measurement of our time," Adama said, wondering if he would ever get through an explanation without the man interrupting him. "And Cylons, a race of robots who want nothing else but to destroy all of humanity."

"A race of robots?" Jurez said.

"Yes, they are after us, and if they find you, they will attack. There will be no negotiations, talking, or anything else. They will attack and destroy you," Adama stated.

"You make them sound heartless," Jurez said.

"They are, their only goal with the human race is extermination, nothing else," Adama said, looking at Jurez trying to gage his reactions. The man showed nothing only slight interest. Adama wondered if the man even grasped the concept of one race completely destroying another one.

"So, these Cylons, they are that dangerous? And what about your fleet?" Jurez replied.

"Destroyed, the people who survived the destruction of our world are now in ships fleeing from the Cylons protected by what's left of our military," Adama stated. "They destroyed our fleet under the deception of wanting peace."

"So they do not negotiate in trust," Jurez replied.

"No," Adama answered. He watched Jurez glance over at the others before saying anything else.

"Then we must quickly consolidate power to present a united front for when the Cylons arrive," Jurez stated.

Adama had to agree, a fractured group would fall quickly if the Cylons decided to attack.

BSGBSG

Apollo headed to a small office along with his father, Starbuck and Boomer. So far they had been quiet, feeling out the other group. Relaxing into the seat of the office he glanced over at his father before saying anything.

"So, what do you think?" Apollo finally asked.

"They are very guarded," Boomer finally said. "But they do have some advanced electronics."

"Yes, they seemed guarded, almost too guarded," Adama said. Apollo could see his father's mind working on this subject already.

"Well, if they are at war, then it's only logical for them to be cautious, even of our story," Starbuck said.

"Hmm, you're right, it's very logical," Adama said. "We might have met someone who is guarded anyways,"

"Do you think he understands the threat the Cylons pose?" Apollo asked. He looked at all three no one spoke up for a moment.

"I don't know," Adama finally said. "If they are so engrossed in their war then no. It might only cause them to fight harder for dominance over the other."

"And it looks like we're getting caught up in another war with the Alliance," Starbuck said.

BSGBSG

Mark glanced up at the knock on his door. It opened to reveal Admiral Corey Pappas.

"Admiral," Mark said, standing giving a salute and walking over to the man. "I wasn't informed you had come aboard."

"Officially I'm not here," Corey said motioning for him to have a seat.

"Um, why do I have a bad feeling when you say that," Mark said leaning back in his chair.

"Because there is a reason for it," Corey replied. "I have some strange news for you. Did either senator act strange to you?"

"You mean other than not wanting us to defend ourselves, nope, normal politicians," Mark replied not sure what the admiral meant.

"They are taking an unusual stance against the military especially considering Serria," Corey stated. "Right now the people are not sure, and the Senate's approval rating is going down rather fast. Something is going on behind the scene and I don't like it."

"Will this affect us," Mark asked.

"I have no idea," Corey stated.

"Then I wonder if I should have told them about the Milsian pilot that survived," Mark stated, seeing the confused face on Corey. "One Milsian fighter opened up on another one causing it to crash into our hangar. We lost seven pilots and somehow that pilot survived."

"Interesting, I haven't heard of them doing that before. And he is on board this ship?" Corey stated.

"She, and yes, she's on board," Mark replied.

"Hmm, transferring her might be dangerous, and getting me up here took quite a lot of effort," Corey said, glancing at his watch. "I don't have much time left. For now keep her on board, and keep it quiet. I want to know what the Milsian goal is this time."

"I'll keep her in med-lab and try to keep it quiet. I'll question her personally," Mark said.

"Good, I'll try and get up to talk to you in person at a later date. For now be careful," Corey said, standing up.

"I'll try, and you be careful as well. I have a feeling we're fighting a two front battle, one enemy is the Milsian military, the other our own politicians," Mark stated.

"That might be the truth," Corey said.

Mark saluted then watched Corey quickly leave the room. He sat back down reviewing the conversation. He had a gut feeling things were about to get worse.

BSGBSG

Crystal groaned feeling light-headed and dizzy. She tried sitting up but fell over on her side on the bed. She heard beeps and smelled the distinct aroma of a cleaners and sterile air. Opening her eyes she spotted a contraption next to the bed which she did not recognize.

"Ah, I see our patient is awake again," a voice said.

Again? Patient? Neither made any sense to her. Images came back from her strange dreams. Her mother before she died making conflicting statements, and even an image of the emperor visiting their home when she was young. She had visions of the same scene of the emperor and her mother arguing about her father which mingled with how great a plot she would be and how her mother agreed.

"Lie still for a second," the voice said again. Crystal managed to focus on the voice seeing a middle aged man, slightly over-weight checking out the machine next to the bed. "Good, good, very good," he said. "Well, I'm proud to say you're one lucky woman."

Crystal so far did not think so. She glanced at the uniform and the badge he wore finally got through her fog-muddled brain. Alliance! She was on board an Alliance ship. She had no idea how that had happened.

She tried to think about the last thing that happened but only fuzzy images of fighters came to her mind. She finally put it from her mind. Whatever the doctor had given her seemed to mess with her mind. She would wait and try to conserve her strength and try for an escape.

"You are healing quite well, you might be a bit disoriented, due to you going through detox for some drug that was in your system. Were you on anything that I should know about?" he asked her.

"Only what you gave me," Crystal managed to say through her dry lips.

"My dear, I'm not about to put my patients on anything dangerous such as a mind altering drug, and the one you had in your system is one I'm unfamiliar with," the doctor said.

Crystal rolled her eyes closing them knowing the Alliance would say anything to fool her. She would get the last laugh, of that she was sure.

"Oh well, suit yourself," the doctor said, humming along as he worked. Crystal found the tune slightly annoying and figured this to be part of the torture technique the Alliance used. She would survive this.

BSGBSG

Jurez sat back as they took a break. He reviewed everything that he had been told. Commander Adama told quite a tale of lost colonies and a robotic enemy called Cylons. Jurez would have laughed story and wondered briefly if the Alliance had staged all this to make the Milsian military look the other way.

"Admiral, incoming message."

"Put it through," Jurez said, knowing who would be on the other end. He was not surprised when Emperor Tony's face appeared.

"Admiral, what have you learned?" Tony asked.

"Well, it's a bit of an unbelievable tale to tell you the truth," Jurez said. "Commander Adama states he is leading the remnants of a grouped called the Colonials. He states that humanity came from a planet called Kobal."

"Never heard of it," Tony said. "Continue."

"Yes sir, anyways there were thirteen tribes on Kobal who left, I assume but I was never told why. Anyways, twelve tribes settled down close to each other, the thirteenth settled on Earth," Jurez said.

"Hmm, an unlikely story with no proof to back that up," Tony said.

"No sir," Jurez said, feeling the same way. "There is more, it seems that these Colonials, the twelve tribes, fought a war against another race, of machines, called the Cylons."

"That would require the belief that there are other intelligent species which we all know do not exist," Tony said.

"I know sir, but they seem very adamant about this. They say the Cylons will do anything to eliminate the human race," Jurez said.

"Hmm, could be an Alliance military experiment gone wrong," Tony said. "Yes, that sounds more appropriate."

Jurez didn't have to say anything to agree with the Emperor. It sounded like something the Alliance would do. He however had a problem then, what to do with Commander Adama and his group.

"I trust you went along with what they said," Tony stated.

"Of course, it was easy, they were eager for me to accept their story," Jurez said.

"Then tell them we'll help, and let them go, then concentrate on phase two of the plan," Tony said.

"It will be done," Jurez replied.

The conversation ended and he wondered how they would react to the knowledge that the attempt of trickery had failed. He paged the captain waiting only a moment before a knock on the door occurred. The captain, Diern, walked into the office.

"Admiral?" the captain asked.

"Prepare the ship for phase two," Jurez said.

"The hyper-jump engines will be waiting," Diern said.

"Good, we'll begin once our visitors have left the ship," Jurez said. He glanced around realizing that very soon the Milsian Empire would finally conquer the Alliance.

BSGBSG

The centurion entered the command room waiting until the chair swiveled around to reveal the commander.

"Speak!"

"By your command," the centurion replied. "Our scouts have reported increased communications and some long range patrols have uncovered planets inhabited with a large population of humans," the centurion said.

"How many planets?"

"Unknown commander," the centurion said. "We have also picked up a few Colonial signals."

"Set course for the nearest planet, and prepare my ship."

"By your command Baltar."

End Part 2


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimers: See part 1

The Milsian Princess

by AJ Marks

Part 3

Adama walked to the shuttle along with Admiral Jurez. So far there had been some headway with the talks. The greatest problem seemed to be the war with the Alliance. It could be a major stumbling block that Adama did not see any way around.

Beside him Apollo and Starbuck, the pilots of the shuttle, Boomer piloted the viper escort they had insisted Adama take. Now Adama had to head back to the council with this latest information and figure out what to do next. It appeared they had found Earth, or at least the civilization it had spawned.

"So commander, what will you do next?" Jurez asked.

"I'm not sure," Adama answered honestly. "I will need to talk to the council and see what they recommend."

"You do not strike me as one who bows to anyone," Jurez said.

"I respect the wish of the council most times. I have learned from experience that sometimes patience is required, and rushing into some things can be very disastrous," Adama said, thinking back to the peace treaty with the Cylons. Baltar had rushed that through very quickly.

"Do they respect you back?" Jurez replied. "I've got an emperor who respects power commander, we cannot afford to have a weak ally in this war. The Alliance will attack if you show any sign of weakness. It's how we have survived for so long."

Adama did not say much about that. "Then the Alliance and the Cylons have something in common then."

"I think the Cylons will find an enemy they do not wish to tangle with commander," Jurez stated.

"I wish I had your confidence, but if they come, they will not show you any mercy," Adama said, stopping in front of the shuttle. Apollo and Starbuck went on inside to prepare the shuttle for launch. "I will contact you after I have talked with the council."

"Then I look forward to seeing you again commander," Jurez said.

Adama walked onto the shuttle a bit glad to be heading back to the Galactica. The Kitakkim's crew seemed very tense to him. He wondered exactly what else was going on.

BSGBSG

Tony glanced at the incoming reports from all the military commands. He smiled knowing almost everything appeared to be in place. The biggest problem now had been the unexpected arrival of a strange group of people.

"Sire, you wanted this report," one of his aides said, handing Tony the paper.

"Yes," Tony said, reading through the report. He sent a long-range patrol in the direction of where the unknown group came from. Now he frowned at what he read, a large fleet of ships slowly heading straight for the home planet of the Milsian Empire.

He read further along where the ships were not recognized as anything the Alliance used. There also appeared to be one very large ship, possibly a warship near the center of the fleet.

"Have this sent to intelligence to analysis at once," he ordered.

"At once sire," the aide said, quickly racing off to carry out the order.

He paused alone in the room looking at the situation. This unknown fleet could still be an Alliance fleet. It could house hundreds of thousands of soldiers for an invasion of the empire. He needed more information about that fleet.

"Problems," a child's voice said drifting over to where he stood. He turned to see his daughter emerge from the shadows.

"No, nothing that concerns you," Tony replied. "Go back to your playing."

"All right," she said, disappearing again. He would have to talk with security to make sure she did not overhear any more important discussions. Her habit of being able to appear and disappear was getting on his nerves. When he made her he should have modified her slightly. She might look seven years old, but had his mind. And he knew that he was not much older when he began planning his path to the throne. He could only imagine she would be doing the same thing.

A slight smile came to his lips at that. At least she really would be like him, cunning to the end, but he was just as cunning as she was, after all she was a child. He returned his attention back to the reports knowing that soon he would have a new position in the universe, complete emperor of the human race.

BSGBSG

Mark walked onto the bridge as alarms sounded all over the ship. He glanced right at Kim wondering what had happened in the short time he had gone to bed.

"Captain, unknown ship approaching," Kim said to him.

"Damn," Mark swore. He had hoped nothing else would happen. "A Milsian fleet, great! How many and of what type?"

"That's just it, it doesn't register as a Milsian warship, or any other type of ship captain," Kim replied.

"Captain, incoming transmission from HQ," Hans said.

"Put it though up here," Mark said, not surprised at all when Admiral Pappas' face appeared.

"Captain, I take it your aware of the situation unfolding right now," Corey said.

"Aware of it yes, know what to do, no,' Mark replied to the admiral.

"Take the Nevada out and meet the unknown ship as far away from Pacifica as possible," Corey said. "I want you to treat this as both first contact and a Milsian trap."

"Great," Mark replied, rubbing the bridge of his nose. He felt the two orders were completely opposite of each other and had no real idea exactly how to do it.

"Keep the line open in case anything happens," Cory said.

"I will," Mark said, turning to the crew. "All right, set an intercept course and engage and maintain yellow alert. I want all fighters manned ready to launch in a seconds notice," Mark told them.

He watched the group race around and pushed the intercom button waiting for John to answer.

"What's up skip," John's voice said.

"We have an unusual situation here, an unknown ship heading towards Pacifica," Mark said to him. "I don't know what's going to happen."

"Don't worry, we'll be ready to go if there's a problem," John said.

"Good," Mark said. "I knew I can count on you."

He heard the Nevada's engines power up moving the giant ship towards the unknown ship. Minutes passed as the two ships closed in on each other. Mark felt the tense atmosphere of the bridge and wished he could do something to ease the tension but had to admit he had no idea what was going happen either.

"Captain, incoming transmission," Hans said.

"Put it though," Mark said.

"Greetings, I am Commander Baltar, of the Cylon Empire."

BSGBSG

Baltar walked out of his raider onto the deck of the hangar of the Nevada. A strange name he thought but it made no difference. It became obvious to him that whoever he was talking to had not spoken to Adama or he would know who the Cylons were. He hid a smile as he walked over to who he assumed the commander of the ship.

"I am Commander Baltar," he said, introducing himself allowing the smile to come out

"I'm Captain Mark Cave," the man replied. The man seemed a bit young to be in charge, all the better Baltar thought to himself. "I greet you in behalf of the Alliance."

That caught Baltar off guard for a second. "The Alliance?"

"Um, yes," Mark replied. "Have you heard of us before?"

"You're not any relation to the Eastern Alliance?" Baltar asked, looking closer at the uniforms. The uniforms they wore were very different than anything he had seen from his former allies. He also knew by judging the look he got they had not heard of them.

"Um, no, allies of yours?" Mark asked.

"They helped me out in a few sticky spots," Baltar replied. "I take it your surprised to see a human."

"Um, something like that," Mark replied.

"Well, it's a bit of a long story, and one full of tragedy," Baltar stated to them.

"Then can I show you to our meeting room," Mark said.

"That would be most pleasant," Baltar replied, as the group left the hangar heading deeper into the ship.

"Impressive ship captain," Baltar said, as they were in the elevator.

"Thank you, yours is impressive as well commander," Mark replied. "I take it it's a warship."

Baltar heard the statement was not a question, but a comment indicating they at least had good scanners. "Yes, unfortunately the Cylon Empire has several enemies which they are at war with right now, including a group of renegade humans," Baltar replied.

"Renegade?" Mark asked.

"Yes, they fear change, will tell you any story, even to the point that we have destroyed humanity, which of course if entirely untrue," Baltar said. "They will state that the Cylon Empire broke promises and treaties, which is a way for them to gain your confidence, and to hide behind."

"So what do they want?"

"To start a new war," Baltar said. They think that only they are smart enough to rule humanity, and will do anything to reach that goal."

Baltar smiled to himself watching the people in front of him think that over for a while.

"And you are chasing them?" Mark asked finally.

"They are dangerous. We've encountered other human tribes that are at full war because they came by. One is the Eastern Alliance. If it wasn't for some intervention they would have been destroyed in a mutual nuclear exchange," Baltar said.

"We'll…"

Alarms cut of any reply that Mark would have made. Baltar glanced over wondering exactly what was going on.

"Bridge, what's going on?" Mark asked.

"A Milsian warfleet approaching captain," a voice replied.

"Well, I would like to continue this, but you might want to leave before things get messy," Mark said.

"If you think so," Baltar said, actually eager to leave. He would rather watch the upcoming encounter on board the Cylon basestar than this ship.

"I'll let Victor here escort you down, if you'll excuse me I'm needed on the bridge," Mark said, quickly leaving heading down the corridor.

"If you'll follow me sir," Victor said.

"Of course," Baltar said, walking along with the man. "So, the Milsians, who are they?"

Baltar watched Victor look back at him with shock on his face.

"Who are they? You live out in the boon-docks or something, only a group that's been trying to take over the Alliance for the past three hundred years," Victor said.

"I see," Baltar replied. He filed that away for later. "I haven't been around, we left some time ago and well things are complicated where I come from already."

"If you say so," Victor said as they reached the hangar. Baltar quickly climbed up into the raider with the two waiting Centurions who waited for his orders.

"Launch and head back to the basestar," Baltar said.

"By your command," one centurion replied.

Baltar reached over pushing the communications button waiting for Lucifer to reply.

"Lucifer, what's going on?"Baltar asked.

"A fleet of ten ships came into the system very quickly, faster than anything we've ever seen Baltar. They decreased speed a short time ago and are now approaching the planet at speeds under light speed. Our scanners do show the ships to be warships, with two as large as a battlestar," Lucifer said.

"Keep an eye on everything that happens, I want a detailed report when I get back," Baltar said.

"By your command," Lucifer replied.

BSGBSG

Mark ran onto the bridge where everything appeared calm, if one could call it that. He quickly looked over at Kim waiting to hear what the full problem was.

"Two Milsian battle-cruisers and eight supporting ships heading towards Pacifica," Kim said.

"Captain, I have Admiral Pappas on the line," Hans said.

Mark nodded motioning for the communications to be transferred to his console. Corey's face appeared on the screen right away.

"Captain, I take it you are aware of the current situation," Corey said.

"Yes admiral, we're about to enter weapons range," Mark said, his ship being the furthest out would enter combat quicker, if that's what they were there for.

"I'm getting a lot of political pressure from the senate to communicate with them," Corey said. "Now I do have a few people working on that, but if you are attacked you have full permission to retaliate. For now retreat back to the planet, you are outnumbered far too much."

"Fighter launch," Kim's voice said.

"Damn," Mark replied. "In combat and short on pilots."

"We all are, the training was slashed last budget cuts," Corey said.

Mark rocked slightly as the Nevada was struck. "Damage report?"

"Stopped by armor and shields captain," Kim said.

"Admiral, I'm afraid I'm going to have to end this conversation, I'll talk with you later, I hope," Mark finally said.

"Understood, good luck, and I'm putting you in overall charge of the fleet in orbit," Corey said.

"Great," Mark said, then ended the call. "Launch fighters," he ordered taking a look at the scanners for the overall situation. The Ark Royal and Musashi were already making their way to their position. He glanced briefly over at the Cylon ship seeing that it appeared to be backing away slightly away from the battle.

"Fighters launched," Kim replied.

"The Ark Royal and Musashi have launched fighters as well," Hans said.

Mark nodded taking a hard look at where the fighters would do the most good. He heard Kim's voice even as he watched a flood of fighters leave a third ship.

"Captain, I think we have a carrier in the Milsian fleet," Kim said.

"That means bombers," Mark said frowning. It could prove a critical weapon in the battle. He needed to have some of his fighters engage those bombers, quickly.

BSGBSG

Crystal blinked her eyes open at the rocking of the ship. She no longer felt dizzy, but still had a lot of conflicting dreams and memories. The most conflicting regarding her mother. Several conversations blurred together and in many cases she remembered two different versions.

She finally glanced around looking at the med lab. She noticed the doctor seemed to be involved in a serious discussion with an aide. She glanced around noticing the fact the ship appeared to be on alert. If the ship was under attack they would need her to defend the ship, she was after all one of the pilots. She climbed out of bed disconnecting the medical hook-ups sending alarms to the doctor's desk who looked over.

Crystal watched him approach her. He had an interesting look on his face and Crystal hoped he dismissed her quickly so she could get into her fighter and help out.

"Ah, I see our patient has recovered enough," he said. "What is the last thing you remember?"

Crystal thought about that before recalling the attack on the Alliance battle-cruiser. "We were attacking the Alliance battle-cruiser. What happened?"

"Is that the last thing you remember, you were awake before this," the doctor replied.

Crystal frowned trying to remember but nothing came to her. Instead a memory of when she was four came to her mind. Her mother arguing with a man at the door. Neither seemed to realize that Crystal could hear what they said.

"You've told others who your daughter is," a male voice said.

"… whether you like it or not, she is Boris' daughter. But risk her life, no, I wouldn't tell anyone that secret," her mother replied quietly.

"Don't lie to me you scum. You were never worth Boris' attentions," the man said, almost yelled.

"And you'll be telling everyone if you keep that up," her mother replied in a much softer tone.

"Makes no difference, and you know it," the man said.

Crystal saw her mother's shoulders slump slightly at his words.

The memory ended as Crystal could not remember much after that. She frowned at the name, Boris. It sounded familiar to her, but she could not think of it. She glanced at the doctor as the ship rocked again.

"Causalities coming in doc," one nurse said, she was setting up a table quickly.

"Be right there, stay here, you'll be safer," the doctor said, as he walked over to the table to help out.

Crystal thought it rather strange he would say that. Then another vision came to her. She was attacking the Alliance battle-cruiser and she was attacked, by one of her own!

BSGBSG

Mark glanced at the scanners once more knowing his fighters would be outnumbered. He wished that the planet had fighter defenses, but due to recent cuts and pressure from the press the starbase had been decommissioned a year ago.

The Nevada had taken a few hits, only one had caused any damage at all. He also noticed the Cylon ship had retreated back even more to avoid any combat. Mark wondered why the Milsian commander did not go after the Cylon ship, or were the two working together. Nah, he thought to himself, the Cylon ship was a warship. They had scanned it seeing the weapon mounts and hangars for fighters.

"Captain, unauthorized fighter launch," Kim reported.

"What?" Mark said, turning his head to Kim wondering what she meant by that.

"Someone launched Skull-seven," Kim said.

Mark blinked at the news not sure what was going on. "Reports from the hangar?"

"Um, hang on, oh, incoming message from med-lab. Doctor Weaver states the Milsian pilot has escaped," Kim said.

Mark groaned at that. "Great, just great, see if anyone on the hangar recalls seeing a small blonde near the ship, and how the hell did she manage this?"

"No idea sir," Kim replied. "Reports from the hangar, an unknown woman took the fighter."

"Inform John we might have a rogue in Skull-seven," Mark said. He knew the pilots already had enough problems without dealing with an enemy pilot in one of their own fighters.

Mark quickly pulled up the scanner looking for Skull-seven. He wanted to know what she was doing and where she was.

"She's heading into sector eight-five," Mark called out. He noticed it was a heavily contested area.

BSGBSG

John turned his fighter again taking out another enemy fighter when the report of the enemy pilot came in. John mirrored Mark's thoughts about the problems it could cause. John also knew this was a reason of why they needed better security on the fighters.

He had no idea exactly which fighter it might be, only that it was headed into his sector of fighting. So far he had no trouble yet in taking care of any enemy fighters. The biggest problem, there were so many and the bombers were slowly approaching attack range.

"Look aware skull-nine," John said, destroying another enemy fighter. "Still with me back there Pam?"

"Watching your six," Pam replied.

"Yeah, you would," John bantered back at her.

"Heads up, new bogies," Pam said. John looked down seeing an additional six enter the battle zone. Even as he watched one Starcat head into the fray. He did not think much of it as he lined up another fighter. He only hoped that whoever was flying the Starcat could hold on until he could send some reinforcements to him.

John finally eliminated the third enemy fighter before glancing over to see how the fight was going. He noticed that the one pilot had eliminated three fighters while he had destroyed one. He frowned slightly taking a look at the fighter ID. He noticed it was Skull-seven the same one which had been hijacked by the enemy pilot.

"Let's get the bombers," he said to Pam.

"What about the pilot fighting off the six Vengeance fighters?" Pam asked.

"Doing fine," John said. "Besides, those bombers poise a greater threat to our ships than anything else."

"On it," Pam replied.

They headed off towards the bombers which would be starting their attack run any second now.

BSGBSG

"Report Lucifer," Baltar said watching the IL series Cylon walk into the command room.

"By your command Baltar. It appears the two groups are fighting among themselves. We have identified two groups of fighters, and a second group which appear to be bombers," Lucifer stated. "Their ships are heavily armed and perhaps have the firepower equivalent to a battlestar."

Baltar thought about that for a few seconds. If they had that much firepower then his one basestar would be no match for what he had seen already.

"Shall we order an attack?" Lucifer asked.

"Hmm," Baltar said, thinking about that for a second. "Yes, that would be just the thing we might need. We'll help out those at the planet."

"Baltar?" Lucifer asked. Baltar knew the Cylon was now confused. "This Alliance, the group here," Baltar said, pointing to one group. "We'll help them, it will make them more friendly towards us."

"Would it not be easier to just destroy them both?" Lucifer asked.

"No, they have the advantage in firepower at the moment. If they join forces we won't stand a chance. In this case we'll divide and conquer," Baltar said, smiling. "Carry out my order, and they are not to harm any Alliance ships. And send a report back to the Cylon empire of what we've found."

"By your command Baltar," Lucifer replied.

Baltar smiled knowing that his name would be enhanced with the Imperious Leader. The Cylons would be glad they had spared him.

End Part 3


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: See part 1

**The Milsian Princess**

by AJ Marks

Part 4

Mark glanced down at the unexpected help from the Cylons. The reports that they had joined the attack caused the Milsians to flee rather quickly though not before the bombers had managed to heavily damage the Ark Royal. The ship was not destroyed, but from the reports it would be out of action for at least a year with that damage.

"Captain, Skull-seven is asking for permission to land," Kim said.

"Granted," Mark said. "I will be down at the hangar along with a security team to meet our rogue pilot."

"Yes sir," Kim said. "What if HQ calls?"

"Tell them I'm busy at the moment," Mark said, turning to leave the bridge. Kim really would not be lying as he was busy. He did not want them to know the exact truth that an enemy pilot had escaped and stolen a Starcat and then helped them out in the battle. The pilot had destroyed eight enemy fighters, and three bombers possibly saving more lives in the process.

"Sir, you asked for a security team?" the head of security, Markus, said.

"Yes, follow me," Mark said.

"Yes sir."

Mark entered the hangar seeing it busy with people running around with the organized chaos that happened after a battle. He spotted John walking towards him.

"See you made it," Mark said.

"Yep, though what's up with Skull-seven, thought you said it was an enemy pilot?" John said, in a quiet voice when he reached Mark.

"She is," Mark replied. Watching as the fighter in question landed. Mark motioned for the security team to stay back for the moment. He wanted to know why she had stolen the fighter, and then helped them and returned? She could have caused a lot of problems during the battle and made things worse, even with the help from the Cylons.

The small figure gracefully jumped down from the cockpit taking off the helmet allowing blonde hair to fall loosely around her shoulders. Mark had to admit, the woman was cute. He shook himself of that thought and walked towards her with John right beside him.

"Want to tell me exactly what you were doing?" Mark asked looking into her blue eyes.

"Getting revenge," she said simply.

Mark's eyebrows rose at that. It had been the last thing he expected to hear nor the cold hardness that appeared in her eyes.

BSGBSG

"Emperor, some urgent news from the latest battle," an aide said, running up to Tony. He turned waiting for the aide to set the report down on the desk. The first thing he noticed was the causalities of the attack. The numbers were higher than any estimates. He frowned looking though the report rather quickly before finding what he wanted.

"Get me Admiral Jurez at once," Tony said. He continued to stare at the report that an unknown force had helped the Alliance to defend itself from the attack. He wondered if this group might have anything to do with the group encountered at Serria,

"Emperor,' Jurez's voice said. Tony glanced at the monitor seeing the admiral's face.

"Ah, admiral, have you received the report of the attack on Pacifica?" Tony asked.

"Not yet emperor," Jurez said. "I only pray it was successful."

"It wasn't," Tony replied his voice hard before continuing. "I'm sending you the report now. It seems the attack force was itself attacked by an unknown force. You'll be receiving the specs of the unknown ships."

"Are they a threat to us?" Jurez asked.

"I want you to see if they match the group you encountered, or if they know who they are," Tony said. "I don't have to tell you not to mention we were the ones attacking do I."

"No Emperor, you can count on me," Jurez said, looking down briefly. "I can say that from what I've seen these ships do not match any ships I've seen of this other group. I will contact them to see if they know."

"Do so at once, we need that information now," Tony replied ending the conversation. He would not have his grand plans ruined by some unknown group. He was too close to achieving victory to allow a setback like this.

BSGBSG

Apollo walked onto the bridge to see Adama and Tigh talking in hushed whispers and the rest of the bridge crew looking slightly nervous. Apollo understood that. When the officers started talking in whispers it meant bad news.

"Apollo," Adama's voice said. "I need for you to head back on over to the Kitakkim and meet with Admiral Jurez. He thinks he has some important information for us and wants our opinion."

"All right," Apollo said, not sure why the whispers, unless…his train of thought abruptly stopped. He hoped he was wrong.

"We want you over there right away," Tigh said.

"I'll leave now," Apollo said, turning to head to the hanger and his viper. If his instinct was right then he mentally prepared himself to see a picture of something of a Cylon ship. If that happened he had no idea what his father would do then.

They had finally found Earth and if the Cylons were so close behind them he wondered if they would stop or continue on further into the Galaxy.

He hoped he would be wrong the entire flight over to the meeting.

"Thank you for coming captain," Jurez said, as Apollo sat down in the meeting room.

"Well, Commander Adama said you had something important to show us," Apollo said.

"Yes, we were recently attacked by the Alliance and some new ships. We've never seen them before and I'm hoping you might know them. If you've traveled as much as you say you surely have met some other groups, at least more than us," Jurez said.

Apollo watched as he activated the screen and the image of a Cylon basestar and then a raider appeared on the screen. Apollo felt his heart sink at the sight.

"You have seen them," Jurez said.

"Yes, they are Cylons, the same ones who destroyed our homeworlds," Apollo said.

"Then you can give us hints on how to successfully fight them," Jurez said.

"Yes," Apollo said. "But I must inform my commander of this situation. He'll want to know and he might be able to help you out even more."

"Very well, we shall open a channel for you to speak to him," Jurez said.

Apollo waited a few microns while the crew of the Kitakkim worked to get the link open to the Galactica. He watched them work efficiently yet there seemed to be the underlying tension he had become used to on board.

"We have the link admiral," one tech said. Apollo watched as his father's face appeared on the screen in front of him.

"Apollo, something wrong?" Adama asked.

"You might say that, it seems that they were attacked by the Alliance working with the Cylons," Apollo replied wondering how his father would take the news.

"I see," Adama said. Apollo saw the brow wrinkle in thought as he thought about the information.

"They would like the technical information about the Cylons," Apollo said.

"Yes, I'll have the files transferred over at once," Adama said. "If you could send over the information about how far away this attack happened it will help us tremendously."

"I think that can be arranged," Apollo stated looking over at Jurez who neither confirmed nor denied the statement. The conversation ended leaving Apollo feeling slightly uneasy. The Cylons were not far behind them now.

He would have to wait until he got back to see what the fleet would do.

BSGBSG

Crystal walked along in silence with the captain of the Alliance battle-cruiser. She figured they were headed to the prison after all she was an enemy. She did not say much else after saying she wanted revenge, even though she had not gained revenge on the person she wanted.

She thought back to shortly after the doctor walked away. Several images and conversations had come back to her destroying everything she had known. Of course everything had been a huge lie concocted by someone else. She did not know exactly who, but she knew that Admiral Jurez knew. She had recognized him.

"So, why do you want revenge," the captain asked.

"I have my reasons," Crystal replied. She did not want to say much else. After all her problem was not the Alliance's problem.

"We might be able to help," he said.

"Doesn't matter, I'll do it by myself," Crystal replied.

"How about telling me your name, I'm Captain Mark Cave, and this is the alliance battle-cruiser Nevada," he said to her.

"Crystal," she finally replied.

"Crystal, pretty name," Mark replied. She glanced over looking slightly up at him wondering what he meant by that. She saw nothing in his appearance.

"So, what are you going to do with me?" she finally asked.

"I don't know," he replied.

Crystal did not know what to do with that answer. She had thought he would slam her in the prison and toss the key for what she had done.

"A few others say that your flying skills are quite good," Mark said.

Crystal shrugged slightly.

"I'm short on pilots," Mark said.

Crystal wondered exactly where this might be going. He could not be thinking of what she thought he might.

"If you're willing we could use your skills," Mark said. "Of course you would be in the brig at the moment.

Crystal frowned at that wondering where the logic was in this situation. She would be locked up, yet allowed to fly a fighter.

Crystal walked into what she figured looked like a security area. Several armed guards stood nearby and she was motioned into a cell.

"It's probably temporary at the moment but I know John will want to meet with you for sure," Mark said. "I wish you would tell us how we could help."

"It's my problem," Crystal replied. She needed time to think about what happened. She only really knew she had been drugged. Now she wanted the truth, and for that she had to wait until the opportunity presented itself.

BSGBSG

Mark walked out of the security area when Markus walked up to him. He knew what the security chief would say and waited to hear it.

"So, want to tell me why you're going to allow her to fly a fighter?" Markus said.

"I know, it sounds crazy and it came to me at the last second, but there's something there, something going on that I want to know," Mark replied. "You've seen other Milsian prisoners, this is the first one I've run across which has been drugged, and acts totally different."

"I know, but it also makes me nervous. She might be a low-class citizen," Markus said.

"And if she is I've never heard of them drugging then with mind altering substances," Mark replied. "Something doesn't add up."

"Are you going to tell HQ about this?" Markus said.

Mark remained silent for a second. "Yeah, maybe they'll have some answers about all this. Why someone would want revenge on the Milsians."

"Good luck captain, I hope this doesn't blow up in your face," Markus said.

Mark nodded hoping the same thing. He walked a bit further coming across John who appeared to be heading to the brig.

"Ah, John, just the person I wanted to see," Mark said, watching his friend's eyebrows rise up.

"Me, why am I suddenly on guard by those words," John said.

"I have something I want to run by you, and you might not like it, or might love it, I don't know," Mark said.

"I'm listening," John said.

"What did you think of Crystal's flying skills?" Mark said, continuing at John's confused expression. "Crystal is the enemy pilot who helped you out in the battle in Skull-seven."

"Hmm," John said, and Mark could see his friend thinking about it quite a bit. "Well, she was very good, I wish we had an entire squad of her."

"How would you like her in your squadron," Mark said.

Mark watched John shift from one foot to the other deep in thought. After several second with only the engines rumbling he finally answered. "I'm not sure, the biggest problem will be trust. I know a few who might not have that problem. She saved their lives."

"I know, she took care of several fighters and bombers probably saving the Ark Royal in the process," Mark said.

"I'll have to run it by the rest of the group," John said.

"Okay, how many did we lose?" Mark asked.

"Five from Skull and seven from Crimson," John said.

"Twelve fighters, we're already shorthanded with the seven lost earlier, that makes it nineteen," Mark said not liking that news at all.

"If you add in this Crystal, only eighteen, and I've heard there are no replacement pilots at the moment, the next class isn't scheduled to end for another month," John said.

Mark shook his head at this news. He wondered exactly when the government decided to totally screw the military over. Add in the fact the press no longer thought the Milsian Empire was a threat and everything seemed to be going straight to hell.

"I'll go talk with her and the others, I hope nothing else happens real soon," John said, walking towards the brig.

Mark had to agree. He headed back up to the bridge to see what damage the Nevada had received. After that he would file a report to HQ and see what they would say. He also wondered what might have happened if the Cylons had not become involved as they did. Their appearance seemed to cause the Milsian fleet to retreat. Perhaps they could form some sort of defense treaty. He would give his recommendations later on.

BSGBSG

Adama looked around the council room. Many people in the room he knew and had now worked with for yehrens now. Together they had led the remains of their people across the galaxy to this place. Now he would need to tell them he found Earth and the Cylons were here as well.

"Commander, I hope there is some good news lately. We know that you went to meet with another civilization, so who are they?" one council member asked.

"That councilor is a complex question. It appears we've found the empires of Earth," Adama said.

"Earth? Are you sure?"

"Yes, it seems that they are at war with the Alliance," Adama said.

"The Eastern Alliance, but I thought they were far behind us by now."

"We never learned how large their territory was, or the exact make up of their fleet," Adama replied. "We only know that it appears they have teamed up with someone else from reports we received."

"Someone else, the only other group I know of is," the councilman stopped talking for a second looking directly into Adama's eyes. "Tell me I'm wrong Adama."

"I wish I could," Adama said, with a sigh. "We received word that the Alliance along with the Cylons attacked one of their planets."

Stunned silence greeted Adama's words. He expected something like this though. He waited for the full impact of the words to sink in.

"Well, what do we do now?"

"I've sent them the technical information on the Cylons," Adama said. He watched them all nod their heads at that. No one seemed to object to that.

"I guess the next step is do we try to help or not?"

"That is the plan, we need to know what we're doing next before we can make a real plan. The Galactica cannot go on the offensive and protect the fleet at the same time," Adama said.

"And what of those from Earth?"

"I don't know yet," Adama replied honestly. "I think we need to talk more with them. If we leave I have no idea where we'll go."

He glanced around the room wondering what they would decide.

BSGBSG

Crystal listened as another person entered the room and walked up to her cell.

"So you're the Milsian pilot," he stated.

Crystal looked up from where she was lying down into the man's eyes. She noticed the pilot's uniform and wondered what he wanted.

"That would be me," she finally replied.

"Ah, someone who can actually talk, can you also carry on a conversation, or are like most other Milsians and have poor conversation skills," the man replied.

"Both," Crystal finally replied, hearing the man laugh.

"I'm John, leader of Skull squadron," he said.

Crystal recognized the name. Skill had seen in the number of the fighter she had stolen to gain some vengeance.

"I'm willing to have you on my team, but how do I know that all this isn't some sort of trick," John replied.

Crystal thought about that honestly before replying. "You don't," she finally said.

"A straight shooter, I like you," John said. "I do have one question, why did your own squadron shoot you down?"

Crystal had no answer for that question. She still needed some questions answered before replying to that question. "I don't know,' she finally answered hoping it answered his question.

"All right, your secret, for now," John finally said. "I'll talk to you later on this subject."

Crystal watched him walk out wondering exactly how anyone in the Alliance could even trust her. She was an enemy pilot. Deciding not to think too much about that she instead thought about the voices she had heard. She had seen Admiral Jurez walk out of the office after discussing her mother's death. They had not known she was listening to the conversation. It was the end of the conversation that haunted her. Whoever Jurez talked to stated Crystal would remain alive until a project had been completed. When that happened Crystal would be eliminated before she could discover her past.

That brought up the biggest question Crystal had. What did her past hold? What terrible secret that her mother that she had to be killed? Did Crystal know somewhere in her memories and had yet to find it? The questions swirled around her with no answers.

BSGBSG

Baltar turned to Lucifer as the Cyon entered the room.

"Report," Baltar said, wondering what had happened now.

"By your command Baltar," Lucifer replied. "The humans have contacted us again, and request another meeting with you."

"Excellent," Baltar replied. He had a feeling that his actions would help in gaining a trust with the human civilization.

"What shall I tell the Imperious Leader? I doubt he will be willing to accept a treaty with the humans," Lucifer said.

"Are you still trying to figure us out?" Baltar said. "Trust, it will allow us to position our ships for an easy strike. Even the Imperious Leader will recognize such an advantage. By the time they realize what's going on it will be all over."

"I will explain that to him," Lucifer said.

"And tell the Alliance I will be willing to talk to them. Perhaps it is time I met with some of the superiors," Baltar said, an idea forming in his mind of what he could do.

"By your command," Lucifer said, turning to leave the room.

Baltar knew he could mix in with the political leaders of the Alliance. Once they trusted him, it would be way too easy to place the basestars in perfect attack positions.

End Part 4


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: See part 1

**The Milsian Princess**

by AJ Marks

Part 5

Adama looked over at Tigh with the decision of the council made he had to move forward. They wanted to see how powerful the human fleet was. If it might be strong enough they would settle down and help. Adama also knew time was critical in making the decision to stay or not.

"I have Captain Apollo on the line," Rigel said.

Adama looked down at his screen seeing Apollo's face. Adama also knew that they were listening in on the conversation. Adama did not want to say anything that might be threatening or viewed that there was no trust.

"Commander," Apollo stated. They he kept it secret that they were father-son. If that information came out it might harm relations later on or be used against them.

"I spoke with the council, they want some sort of indication of how large the fleet is. Not full numbers, but if they have more than five battlestars or equivalent type ships," Adama said.

"Well," Apollo said, looking slightly flustered with digging that information out. "I can ask, there is no guarantee that they will answer. They are after all at war and they could view us as a threat from them."

"If they are at war, then the enemy would already have an estimate of their strength. We only know of the two large ships they have at that planet right there," Adama said. He waited a few microns before Jurez joined the conversation.

"I do not have the authority to divulge that information. I'll inform my higher up to see what they say," Jurez said.

"Then I await your answer," Adama said. The answer would put their course of action into motion. Adama had the feeling they had more than just a couple of large warships. He would be surprised if the answer came back with less than five. He fully expected them to have more than ten.

The conversation ended as Adama sat back in the chair.

"Do you think they have the strength?" Tigh asked.

"Yes, but how much is the question. They will not tell us the full fleet strength, but will make it appear either greater or much less. The question is how do they feel about us? Do they want to intermediate us or help us?" Adama said.

Adama glanced over at Tigh seeing his friend in the same pondering mood that he felt himself in. Now he had to wait and hope.

BSGBSG

Mark sighed in annoyance as once more Senators Vicess and Agnot would be aboard the Nevada. This time they were official greeters of the government to Baltar and the Cylons. Mark wondered what else would happen.

He watched the shuttle land on the hangar and he straightened up preparing his official duty. The shuttle doors opened allowing the senators to walk off.

"Senator Agnot, Vicess, welcome back aboard the Nevada," Mark said to them. He got the same dour look from Agnot that he usually did. Vicess appeared rather more excited about everything. Mark gathered it had to do with the fact they were meeting another group of humans.

"So when shall we expect to meet this Baltar?" Agnot said.

"The bridge informed me his ship would be landing in a few minutes. The main conference room is already prepared, your aides were in there as I came down here," Mark said.

"This should be very interesting," Vicess said. Mark thought he heard excitement in the man's voice.

"Interesting, bah, we have more important things to be worrying about,' Agnot said.

Mark rolled his eyes before turning back to the senator. "I hope you are more respectful when you meet Baltar."

Agnot did not reply and Mark had a bad feeling about it all. He hoped he only felt the bad mood Agnot appeared to be in.

"Captain, we just cleared Baltar's ship for landing," Kim's voice said.

"Understood," Mark said. They watched the disk shaped fighter craft land in the hangar. A second later the hatch opened under the ship and Baltar climbed down a ladder before walking towards them.

"Commander Baltar, welcome back aboard the Nevada," Mark said greeting the man. "I want to introduce you to Senator Vicess and Senator Agnot."

Mark watched the reaction of both senators. Vicess appeared like Mark thought, excited. Agnot appeared more dour than usual even sporting a slight sneer-smile for Baltar. Mark glanced back seeing Baltar's reaction to the man. He thought he saw a brief narrowing of the man's eyes at a perceived threat before it was replaced with a charming smile.

"Well, I'm glad to meet both of you," Baltar said finally.

"It is an honor to meet you," Vicess replied. "Let us head up to the meeting room where we can be comfortable."

"Sounds great," Baltar said.

Mark led them off the bridge down a hallway seeing John and Crystal walk by. He felt slightly relieved when he saw no guards. Both were dressed as pilots so they would go without any problem.

The finally reached the meeting room and Mark sat down to listen to the meeting and what might happen next.

"So, what exactly are you doing here?" Agnot asked. Mark glanced over at Baltar to see what type of answer he would give.

"I'm after some rogue rebels who stirred up trouble in our area of space. We feel they have come this direction. If they have they will use all types of lies to divide you even saying we are threatening the eliminate them," Baltar said.

"And do you always make it a habit of interfering on peace talks?" Agnot said.

"Peace talks?" Baltar replied one eyebrow rising. Mark shrugged when Baltar looked his direction. "What I saw did not resemble peace talks. Or at least any peace talks I know of."

"We were attempting to establish contact with the Milsian fleet, at least until you opened fire admiral," Agnot said.

"And we had already come under attack senator, they fired first," Mark replied, clinching his fists. He wondered again exactly how stupid this senator could be.

"Actually I think the Cylons helped prevent any further bloodshed in this 'misunderstanding'. After all if they had not come in causing the Milsian fleet to retreat the losses could have been worse," Vicess said.

"That may be, but I suggest the Cylon Empire stay out of our political dealings with the Milsian Empire," Agnot said.

Mark did not say anything but he knew the military could not fight a two front war. Especially with the fact the government continued to cut military budget. He waited a bit longer to see what Baltar would say.

"If the Milsian Empire makes the mistake of attacking one of our ships, they will return fire, make sure you understand that," Baltar said. Mark noticed no friendly humor, or tone, only a warning. "I suggest if you have any contact with them you tell them that."

Mark shook his head at the fact the senator had now pushed way a potential ally against the Milsian Empire. Mark did understand that while the Alliance could not fight a two front war, neither could the Milsian Empire. He thought about how to have the Cylons help the Alliance without the government's help. He would contact Admiral Pappas and see if he had an idea.

BSGBSG

Tony glanced over the latest intel about the Cylons. It seemed the Colonials, as they called themselves, had gathered quite a bit of information about the race.

There were detailed reports of weaknesses and strengths that the Cylons processed. He wondered slightly how a race of machines could not easily eliminate another race. They seemed to have greater weaknesses than the Colonials thought, or they had never probed into the thoughts that machines had programming and as a result a psychological profile that could be used against them.

"The Cylons, they put a kink in your plans," a girl's voice said floating over to him. Tony glanced over to see his daughter, Sara, standing there.

"No, nothing major, and I have their weakness," Tony replied.

"If you say so, but there is information you are missing at the moment," she replied, before disappearing again.

Tony growled for a second before stopping. How had she known about the Cylons? That thought disturbed him slightly. Did someone tell her? Could she hack into the computer system? Or did she have that same knack of overhearing conversations so much like the real person her DNA had been taken from, Crystal. That girl overheard too many conversations, of which he was glad she had finally been eliminated. He made a mental note to try and figure that out how Sara knew, now he had a more pressing concern. Would the Cylons interfere in his plans?

"Emperor," an aide said walking into the office, bowing to Tony. "This report just came in from our spies."

Tony read through it before rereading it once more. He slightly smiled at the news. He now had a way to divert the attention of the Cylons while he conquered the Alliance. And once he completed that he could focus his attention on the Cylons.

"Get Admiral Jurez on the line at once. We have work to do," Tony replied, smiling.

"Sire, another message came in," Another aide said, walking in bowing to Tony.

Tony took the new message and felt the rage envelope him. They had failed to eliminate Crystal, and now she was alive on an Alliance warship. He knew once the drugs wore completely off she would remember real events. He could only hope that she felt confused enough to think the Alliance was messing with her mind. He would need a back-up plan.

"Emperor," Jurez's voice said. Tony glanced down at the monitor at the admiral's face. He motioned the two aides out of the office before saying anything.

"Admiral, we have a problem, and some new information on the Colonials," Tony said.

"I await your orders emperor," Jurez replied.

BSGBSG

Baltar walked to the Cylon raider after an interesting meeting with the Alliance politicians. He felt hostility almost right away from Senator Agnot, but Vicess seemed to want to talk. He smiled slightly at what he had learned and how so many either did not see or were not willing to see. The admiral next to him apparently did not recognize the signs. Baltar thought he could recognize the signs simply by the fact he had been in a similar situation.

"An interesting group of politicians," Baltar finally said to the admiral.

"Interesting, more like insulting," Mark replied.

"Maybe, but I've dealt with worse," Baltar replied. "He seems to think if he ignores war it will go away."

"Yeah, even when staring him in the face he will continue to ignore it," Mark said. Baltar heard the tone and realized the admiral did not like the senator at all.

"You two have had a run in before," Baltar stated.

"You might say that," Mark replied. Baltar waited a few microns but nothing else came forth.

"Well, I've had my own dealings with his type, if you need any help the Cylon Empire will be there for you," Baltar said.

"Why would you do that?" Mark asked.

"It is part of who we are," Baltar replied reaching his ship. "I hope to deal with you some more."

"We'll see," Mark replied. "I hope you have a safe journey back to your ship."

"I'm sure it will be," Baltar replied, then climbed up into the raider where the two centurions were waiting. "Head back to the basestar."

"By your command."

BSGBSG

Apollo turned to see Jurez walk back into the room. Apollo thought there might have been a problem because the admiral had been gone so long.

"I apologize for the delay captain," Jurez said. "We had some difficulty relaying the information to our homeworld."

"It's not Earth?" Apollo asked, confused at that.

"Ah, Earth was devastated several hundred years ago by war. I'm afraid it's surface is now a wasteland," Jurez said.

Apollo digested that news wondering what type of war they had been involved in. And the bigger question had been who were they involved against. "Who were you fighting then?"

"The precursor to the Alliance, the Confederation," Jurez replied easily.

"So you defeated them back then?" Apollo asked, hoping to gain more information.

"They drove us out," Jurez said, his voice filled with hate. "They told lies about us."

Apollo wondered a bit more about the Milsian empire and here had had some information about it. "How many legends of Earth survived?"

"I'm afraid not many," Jurez said. "That could be why, what did you call it, Kobol, is not known to us."

"It is a possibility," Apollo replied. "Over the many generations it could easily have passed into legend and myth before finally being forgotten. Our own records were incomplete for a long time. I've been to Kobol now though."

"Why did you not stay there?" Jures asked.

"It suffered a dramatic climate change due to its orbiting sun," Apollo replied.

"I see," Jurez said. "Either leave or go extent."

"Something like that," Apollo replied. "All I know is there was sand everywhere, and we managed to discover several pyramids."

"Hmm, never heard of anything like that, what purpose would a pyramid serve?"

"A tomb, and a way to record the past," Apollo replied. "It worked, at least until the Cylons attacked and destroyed it."

"Awful waste, but I do have another bit of information for you. An estimate of our fleet is three large warships, and about twenty smaller warships used for planetary defense," Jurez said.

"I see," Apollo said. He had no way to tell if the admiral told the truth or not. Either way the fleet numbers were small. He felt unsure if his father would even recommend staying now.

"I've taken up too much of your time, I'll allow you to head back to your home now," Jurez said "And I thank you for the information you gave us."

"Our pleasure, I'm sure we'll talk again," Apollo said.

"I do have some things to attend to so my aide will take you back to your ship," Jurez said. A younger man stood nearby and saluted.

Apollo nodded following the young man out of the room. They walked in silence and Apollo noticed the tension lessen quite a bit. He thought maybe it was that way because of how Jurez wielding command of the ship.

"So, would you consider Jurez a good commander," Apollo asked, hoping to make some small talk.

"Yes," the man said.

Apollo waited a few microns but nothing else came as they entered the hangar. Off to one side Apollo noticed the mechanics working on the fighters. Something he would see even on the Galactica and almost any time of the day.

"Idiot Gammas," Apollo heard the aide mumble.

He wondered exactly what that meant but said nothing at the moment. He reached his viper and climbed up watching as the aide already walked away. He Put on his helmet when he heard shouting.

"Can't you Gammas do anything right? The admiral will hear of this!" the aide yelled then stormed off.

Apollo frowned but caught drifting comments of conversation from the workers.

"Betas." "Power hungry." "Alpha complex."

Apollo had no idea what that meant, but decided to leave while he still had clearance off the ship. Once he had finally left he felt slightly better, and wished he had more information about what seemed to be going on.

BSGBSG

Mark sat back down in his chair. The reports were stacking up but he ignored it for the moment. He called down to HQ waiting for Admiral Pappas to reply. He scanned through his e-mail stopping at one in particular. It had no address but simply said Rear-Admiral Mark Cave. Mark opened it quickly scanning through it before rereading it again.

Admiral,

You were told the Cylons are chasing a group, calling themselves Colonials. Baltar said they were rebels, while this may be true, it might also be true that the Colonials are on the run because the Cylons wish to destroy all of humanity.

Who is right, only when both sides are listened to can you find the truth.

You also have in your possession the one thing the Emperor fears the most.

Check it out for yourself,

Mark scanned it again then realized at the bottom it showed a map and a location near Serria.

"Mark!"

Mark jumped looking at his communications screen seeing Admiral Pappas there.

"You all right?" Corey asked.

"Yeah, got a weird e-mail, no return address," Mark said.

"Probably spam," Corey stated. "How did the meeting go?"

"Awful, but I don't think Baltar was insulted too much," Mark said, his mind still on the e-mail. "Hey, listen to this. This 'spam' e-mail, is telling me of another story of the Cylons. They want to destroy humanity and the Colonials, the rebels, are the survivors of some previous destruction."

"Interesting, but what does that prove. I'm sure, like Baltar stated, they would say anything to gain our trust," Corey said.

"Yeah, but what if Baltar will say anything to gain our trust as well," Mark said. Silence from Cory for several minutes before the older man spoke again.

"That is a good point, and one I do not have the answer to. Does the e-mail say who to trust?" Corey finally said.

"No, but I think they have given us the location of the Colonials," Mark said.

"You want to contact them," Corey said.

"Yes," Mark replied. "A quick trip, call it recon to Serria."

"All right, I'll approve the Nevada for a quick trip, anything else?" Corey asked

"Yeah, it also states we have the key to scaring the crap out of Emperor Tony," Mark said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"And just what could that be?" Corey replied. "We've developed no new weapons lately, no nothing in fact. I don't know what we might have that could scare him."

"I know, well I guess we'll find out. When will I have permission to leave?" Mark asked.

"Give me a couple of hours to get everything together, including a cover story," Corey said.

"All right, I'll wait until we hear something from HQ, but I'll prepare the ship," Mark said.

The conversation ended leaving Mark feeling off-balance. He did not have the ability to scare the emperor. Their class system made conquering their planets difficult. The lower classes, the Gammas and Epsilons were easy to bring around. The Beta and Alpha classes were difficult to control. The last class, the Deltas were the most neutral. He guessed it all depended on how much power one wielded. Those in power did not like to give it up.

He could only wait and see if the coordinates left to him in this mysterious message panned out.

BSGBSG

Adama watched Apollo walk into his office. His son's face appeared full of worry which caused Adama to wonder what happened.

"Something wrong?" Adama asked.

"Just some things that I saw while on board the Kitakkim," Apollo said. "And some things that were said."

"Like what?" Adama asked. Maybe his son had learned something about the tension everyone had felt while aboard the ship.

"I think there might be some sort of class system or something on board," Apollo said. "An aide took me back to the ship and he seemed to comment about gammas or something. It was under his breath but obviously treated the hangar crew with almost hatred. And after he left the hangar crew talked about betas and the Alpha complex."

"I see, could be what they call different groups on board, but it might also explain the tension between different people," Adama said.

"And he mentioned something about the Alliance, that three hundred years ago they pushed the Milsians out of the Confederation which then formed the alliance," Apollo said

Adama sat back after hearing that. The thrum of the engines reverberating in the office. "That is unusual, and different than what we thought."

"I'm beginning to think this Alliance isn't the same one as the Eastern Alliance," Apollo said.

"You might be right," Adama said.

"Commander Adama to the bridge," Tigh's voice said interrupting anything Adama might have said. He looked at Apollo before heading up to the bridge.

Adama walked onto the bridge quickly after Tigh summoned him up there. He noticed everyone seemed extremely tense.

"What's going on?" Adama asked looking at Tigh.

"It appeared a moment ago and already closed in on the fleet," Tigh said. Adama glanced at the scanner to see a ship close to the fleet. "The speed is amazing."

"It does give then a slight advantage in when and where a battle will occur. Could we respond quickly enough?" Adama asked.

"We can launch vipers but where they finally slow down we would not know," Tigh said.

"Put the Galactica on alert," Adama said.

"Did Apollo talk to you," Tigh asked.

"Yes," Adama said. His talk with his son gave him many questions, the biggest being exactly who the Alliance was. They had been known as the Confederation and what information he had gathered from the Easter Alliance captain he did not think they had been spacefaring for more than a hundred yehrens. How long was a year though? If it was about as long as a yehren then it might be three hundred years.

"What do you think we should do?" Tigh asked, bringing Adama's attention back to the present.

"Try and hail them," Adama said. He did not want to make any new enemies. He needed allies if the Cylons were close by. He could only hope that what Apollo said, and his own gut proved right.

End Part 5


	6. Chapter 6

Dislaimer: See Part 1

The Milsian Princess

by AJ Marks

Part 6

Mark looked at the scanner wondering what he would do next. The information had proven true and now he looked upon a fleet of ships. The middle ship and largest appeared to be a warship of some sort. It seemed to be about the size of the Nevada and probably had similar capabilities.

"Well, now what?" Kim's voice said.

Mark wondered that as well. The size and composition of the fleet also confirmed Baltar's story. He really had no idea what he might do now. They could make contact, or he could leave and report this back to HQ and see what they say.

"Captain, we're being hailed," Hans said.

Mark actually felt no surprise at the fact they were being hailed. It might be something the Colonials would do, if you believed Baltar. Mark realized he would never know unless he replied back to the hail.

"Send it up here," Mark said.

"This is Commander Adama of the Battlestar Galactica to unknown ship, identify yourself," the voice said.

Mark thought about the tone, a bit different than Baltar if he spoke the truth. Baltar seemed friendlier but Mark needed to find out for himself.

"This is Captain Mark Cave of the Alliance battle-cruiser Nevada," Mark replied back.

"The Eastern Alliance?" the question came back. Mark frowned slightly at that question. He had never heard of the Eastern Alliance before.

"Eastern Alliance? I have not heard of that group before," Mark replied.

"Then perhaps we should meet," Adama said.

"It might get some confusion out of the way," Mark said.

"You are welcome aboard the Galactica, or we can come aboard your ship," Adama said.

Mark thought about that for a second before finally replying. "I shall come over there."

"Then we shall make arrangements, and I look forward to meeting with you," Adama said.

"And I you," Mark replied.

BSGBSG

Baltar turned at the entrance of Lucifer.

"Any news from the Alliance?" Baltar asked.

"Only this message from one of their government officials," Lucifer said. "They have located the Galactica for us."

"The Galactica," Baltar said. Knowing that the battlestar was around he wondered exactly how he could destroy it and gain revenge on Adama.

"We do have another basestar in the area, it was the closest one," Lucifer said.

Baltar hesitated knowing he wanted the glory of destroying the Galactica. But Adama had a way of escaping destruction. If he ordered the basestar to attack he could force the Galactica into a battle leaving it damaged and venerable to his second strike.

"Have it head to that area and if the Galactica is there, destroy it," Baltar ordered.

"By your command," Lucifer replied.

Now Baltar's mind quickly worked at how exactly to distract the Alliance while he went to destroy Adama after this attack.

BSGBSG

Mark stepped off the shuttle along with John, who would not allow Mark to go over by himself. Mark noticed several men right away, two dressed in tan colors and the third dressed in blue. He noticed the tan men wearing holsters and weapons and figured them as guards. The man in blue with white hair obviously had to be Commander Adama.

"Welcome aboard Captain Cave," the man said. "I am Commander Adama, and this is Captain Apollo and Lieutenant Starbuck."

Mark glanced first at the dark haired man called Apollo then at the blonde man. "I'm Captain Mark Cave, and this is Lieutenant John qwert."

"I have a meeting room set aside where we can talk in comfort," Adama said.

Mark nodded as the group left the hanger. Mark glanced around it noticing it was larger than the Nevada's. He also noticed with the Galactica it had two large hangers. He wondered how many hangers the Cylon warship had. Putting that out of his mind he followed Adama up into the ship. He did noticed walking down the hallway that the ship appeared more crowded than a normal warship.

"Here we are," Adama said, as they walked into the room.

Mark noticed right away the technology appeared slightly less advanced than he had expected. He really thought they would have been more advanced. Green monitors on the wall reminded him of holo films of ancient Earth computers. He looked over at John who sat down as well and Mark knew he had seen the technology as well.

"Welcome aboard the Galactica again," Adama said. "I can assume safely that you are not part of the Milsian Empire."

"Ah, no, but I think you are what is called the Colonials," Mark replied watching Adama show a bit of shock.

"Yes, you have been talking to the Milsian Empire?" Adama asked.

"Not really, we don't get along very well," Mark said.

"Well there is that part where they keep trying to conquer us," John said. "Like they did with Serria."

"Serria?" the man called Starbuck asked.

"It's the planet a small Milsian fleet orbits right now. They are subjecting the population there to life under Emperor Tony," Mark said. "We'll be launching a counter strike here soon, I hope, part of our reason for being here."

"But you knew we were here?" Adama said.

"Yes, an anonymous message pointed you out," Mark said. "And we wanted to check out your story."

"Our story? Seems like you've already heard a story," Apollo said.

"Well, yes, but I've found the best way is straight from the source," Mark replied.

Mark watched as Adama held up a hand to Apollo before returning his attention back to Mark. "All right, the short story is we were at war with a race for a long time. They were called the Cylons."

Mark nodded as only he and John knew they had met the Cylons already.

"Well, we fought them for a thousand years. Then by contacting a councilmember they said they wanted peace. It turned out to be a disaster. The Cylons destroyed our fleet, and our worlds. At the time the colonies had twelve homeworlds representing twelve of the thirteen tribes of mankind," Adama said. "After the devastation I knew the Galactica could not defend what remained of our people. So I gathered all I could and left to find the thirteenth tribe, Earth."

Mark sat back listening to the story looking for deception. The story was good, and the commander definitely believed in it.

"If you had been at war for so long how was it the government believed they wanted peace?" Mark finally asked.

"Baltar did a good job of that," Adama said. "He was a councilman and it was through him they said they wanted peace. Only he knew what their true objective was. I have no idea what they promised him but he made sure our defenses were down when they attacked. Now they hunt us to finish what they started."

Mark heard the name and managed to hide his shock over the name. He had a lot to think about right now and wished a bit that he knew who was telling him the truth.

"Why would they use a peace treaty to attack, doesn't sound like something an intelligent race might do," Mark said.

"The Cylons are a race of machines, they only wish to win. I've learned they do not care about honesty, or morals, only that they win, that's it,' Admaa said. "And their mission at the moment is to eliminate all human life. If they meet you they will try and destroy you."

Mark mulled this over for several seconds. He had to figure out if Baltar was telling the truth or not. Of course Adama had no idea Mark had already had contact with the Cylons.

BSGBSG

Tigh paced on the bridge wondering what was happening now with their latest visitors. The Alliance ship sat at the edge of the fleet not doing anything.

"Colonel," Athena's voice said, sounding very tense.

"What is it," Tigh said, glad for an interruption of his thoughts.

"We have a Cylon basestar heading towards the fleet," Athena replied.

Tigh stopped turning to her. He swallowed once before jumping to action.

"Sound red alert, where is it coming in from?" Tigh asked.

"Bringing it up on the screen now colonel," Athena replied.

Tigh noticed the Cylon basestar would attack the rear of the fleet.

"Set course to intercept," Tigh said as the Galactica went to red alert normal lighting replaced with the red glow of the alert lights. People on the bridge quietly went about their duties preparing for a battle. "Send out the word to all ships in the fleet."

"Yes sir," Rigel replied.

Tigh wondered briefly what the alliance ship might do, but did not have time to worry about that. His first priority was protecting the fleet.

BSGBSG

Mark glanced up when the normal lighting suddenly changed to red along with a sounding tone. He decided from the way the three men jumped the Galactica had gone to red alert, but the question now was why?

"Tigh, what's going on?" Adama asked at the intercom. Mark thought he moved pretty fast for someone his age.

"Commander, scanners indicate a Cylon basestar incoming," a voice replied back.

"Launch all vipers, I'll be there shortly," Adama said. Mark watched him turn back to him in deep thought. "I suggest you return to your ship captain."

"That probably would be a good idea," Mark replied. He turned to John who appeared ready to get off the ship if battle would happen. Not that Mark could blame him.

"We'll take him down," Apollo stated. They began walking down the hallway. "Have you heard of Alphas, Betas and Gammas?"

Mark felt a bit of shock at the question wondering if Apollo knew or not. "Well, we know it as part of the class social system of the Milsian Empire. Alpha Superior is the highest, made up of the current Emperor's family, then Alphas, Betas, Deltas, Gammas, and finally Epsilons."

"A social class?" Starbuck said. "Might explain the tension we felt meeting them."

"You've met them? Have they met these Cylons?" Mark asked.

"Not that I'm aware of, but they have attacked them while they were defending a plant from attack by, um, well, the Alliance," Apollo replied.

"I see," Mark said. "They lie very easily." Mark wondered if the Cylons lied as easily as the Milsians did. If they did then Baltar did a good job of making these look different.

The hanger looked quite different than before. Pilots raced to their battlestations while fighter crews made sure every fighter was armed and fueled ready to go.

"How quickly can you get out of here?" Apollo asked over the noise.

"Quite quickly, don't worry about that," John replied back.

Mark followed John on board the shuttle quickly heading to a seat while John prepped the shuttle for launch. Mark worked on communications hearing the shuttle's engines powering up to the point it was ready for launching. He felt the acceleration of the shuttle a second later the communicator came to life.

"Captain Cave, come in," Kim's voice said.

"Colonel, good to hear your voice, what's the situation?" Mark asked.

"The fleet is doing some radical maneuvering," Kim replied.

"Is there a Cylon ship on the scanners?" Mark asked.

"Wait, yes, it just came into range," Kim stated. "Oh great, we're going to be in a battle between two forces."

"Prep jump engines and get me HQ," Mark said.

"Understood," Kim said.

Mark turned to look outside the forward windows watching John pilot the shuttle with ease. The Nevada came into view finally. Mark finally breathed a sigh of relief when the shuttle landed in the hanger.

"You need me to do anything?" John asked.

"Gather up the pilots and keep then ready, just in case," Mark said. He had no idea what would happen in this battle and he wanted to be prepared. He quickly headed up to the bridge to see what would happen next.

BSGBSG

"Report Lucifer," Baltar said.

"By your command,' Lucifer replied. "The basestar has engaged the Galactica and the Colonial fleet."

"Excellent," Baltar replied. "How quickly can we engage the Galactica?"

"At our present speed, in sixty centons," Lucifer replied.

"Have all our pilots ready to engage," Baltar said. "I want our forces ready to destroy the Galactica. Not a ship of that fleet is to survive."

Baltar knew when he arrived the battle would have been engaged for a while making the warriors tired. His centurions would come in fresh and fully armed.

"I will make sure all pilots know your orders Baltar," Lucifer said.

Baltar watched Lucifer walk out of the room to carry out the orders. Baltar smiled finally having Adama right where he wanted him.

BSGBSG

Mark glanced at the scanner on the bridge wondering who might win this battle. He could see that the Galactica's fighter squadrons had already engaged in the Cylon forces. He noticed the large number of fighters compared to the Alliance ships. The Nevada held fifty fighters and the Cylon warships appeared to hold even more.

"Looks like a large fight," Kim said.

"In terms of fighters, yep, but there are only two warships," Mark stated.

The two warships continued to close the distance and he started seeing damage begin to appear on both ships. They had engaged each other.

"No shields captain," Kim said finally.

Mark glanced down noticing that as well. Their ships might not have as many fighters but their ships had better protection.

"New incoming Cylon fighters," Yvette, the weapons officer, suddenly said.

Mark glanced around the scanner before seeing the fighter formation. He noticed it was now behind them and heading right towards them.

"Orders captain?" Kim asked.

"Raise shields," Mark said. He wondered exactly what would happen next. "Order all pilots ready to launch."

"Captain, is that wise, they are our allies," Kim said, confused at the order.

"Just do it, I've had some new information lately and if it's right they will attack us," Mark said.

Mark watched as the Cylon ships closed in. They would either pass right by the Nevada or they would attack his ship with little warning. He rubbed his forehead feeling the strain of the situation wearing on him.

"Still closing in sir, shall we open a hailing frequency?" Hans asked.

"No, move us further away from the Colonial fleet," Mark said. He wanted to see if the Cylons would change course slightly to attack a ship with humans on it or ignore it and go for the Colonial fleet.

He watched the Nevada turn slightly and begin moving away from the fleet. He glanced at the Cylons waiting several seconds. He almost breathed a sigh of relieve and then several fighters changed course heading straight to the Nevada. He quickly activated the communicator and waited patiently for John to reply.

"What's up skip?" John's voice said.

"If you launch it's probably to engage Cylon forces," Mark said.

"Cylon, all right," John said. "Numbers?"

"Around a hundred and fifty right now," Mark said.

"Oh, only outnumbered three to one," John's reply came back. Both understood the news meant nothing good. Mark could only hope the Starcats were as good as the designers had made them.

"Cylon fighters firing on us captain," Hans said. Mark really did not need Hans to mention that as he rocked slightly by the hits to the Nevada.

"Shields holding captain,' Kim said.

"Launch fighters, engage hostile forces," Mark replied.

BSGBSG

Adama turned when Athena mentioned that Cylon forces were approaching from behind them. He should have figured something like this. Draw the Galactica away from the fleet then split his forces.

"Can any squadron break away to engage?" Adama asked.

"Blue squadron," Omega replied.

"Have them turn to engage them then," Adama said. He wondered if there was another Cylon basestar out there that he did not know about. Now he had to finish off this basestar with as little damage as possible and possibly engage a second basestar.

"Damage to alpha hanger, minor though," Tigh said.

"Have the damage control teams begin work on it," Adama said. He glanced at the scanners which indicated the damage to the basestar. So far the basestar had suffered more damage than the Galactica. Adama knew that in battle things could change in a moment. He hoped his luck would hold on a bit longer.

BSGBSG

Crystal walked up to her fighter under the stares of several others. Beside her John stood before giving her a pat on the shoulder.

"Don't worry about them, right now we have a problem with the Cylons," John said. "If what the Colonials said was true, the Cylons pose a threat to both the Milsian and Alliance."

Crystal heard the words but knew her only real concern, staying alive to gain revenge. She only cared about that and if protecting the Nevada helped her gain that revenge she did not care.

"Seems like according to the Colonials all the Cylons want to do is destroy humanity," John said. "The only orders right now are protect the Nevada from the Cylons attacking us."

Crystal nodded her head before climbing into the fighter. She turned slightly confused when a mechanic handed her the interface helmet.

"Go get them," he said.

"Don't worry," Crystal said thinking how much he looked like the head mechanic on the Kitakkim. The one place she had any friends at all and even then she wondered if that had been controlled.

"Skull seven, cleared for launch," the bridge said.

"Launching," Crystal replied, as her fighter raced out into space. Her scanner quickly came to life with multiple targets. She quickly picked out the closest enemy fighter destroying rather easily. The disk shaped fighter exploded even as Crystal moved on to her second target. She destroyed that one too before finally destroying the third fighter. She glanced at the scanner noticing right away that the Cylons appeared to fly in groups of three. If they all fought like this she could have an easy fight.

BSGBSG

Apollo glanced at his scanner at the incoming Cylon raiders and at the fact many of the raiders had stopped to engage the Alliance warship. Apollo did not know what the capabilities of the Alliance ships were but he hoped they could defend themselves. The Galactica's fighter squadrons were stretched to the limit right now.

"Heads up, here they come," Apollo said. He switched over to his targeting computer and opened fire on the Cylons. Space immediately criss-crossed with red and blue laser fire as the two groups engaged each other.

Apollo destroyed one before turning to engage another Cylon raider. That one was destroyed before he realized there were about forty or so unknown fighters in combat with them. He quickly realized they had to be the Alliance fighters.

"Starbuck, make sure you don't destroy the unknown fighters, they have a human pilot," Apollo said.

"Yeah, I know, saw one streak through destroy three Cylon raiders and continue on like nothing happened," Starbuck replied.

Apollo thought that would be impressive, but then concentrated on the next Cylon raider.

Apollo turned away a few moments later to survey the situation when he noticed an Alliance fighter on his scanner. Two Cylon raiders disappeared on the scanner as the Alliance fighter continued on to another group of Cylons. Apollo figured that to be the fighter Starbuck spoke about. He watched for a few moments as whoever piloted the fighter destroyed another three while he watched.

The pilot seemed to weave a path of destruction wherever it went. He shook his head then re-engaged wondering where the Cylon basestar would be.

BSGBSG

"Report Lucifer," Baltar stated watching the Cylon enter the room. "Are the Galactica's warriors eliminated yet?"

"Not yet Baltar, there appears to be a slight problem," Lucifer said.

"The Pegasus?" Baltar asked. He had almost been caught once by Commander Cain and he did not want that to happen again.

"Not the Pegasus, but it appears there is an Alliance ship as part of the fleet," Lucifer said. "Its fighters are putting up tremendous resistance."

"What?" Baltar stammered. He had not expected an Alliance ship with the Colonial fleet. "Order a retreat at once, frack!"

"By your command Baltar," Lucifer replied.

Baltar felt slightly sick. "And why were our forces attacking an Alliance ship Lucifer?"

"You ordered all ships in the fleet to be destroyed. It was part of the fleet and trying to run when our forces engaged," Lucifer replied logically.

"Get out of my sight, and get us back to the Alliance world, Pacifica at once," Baltar said. He had to do some quick thinking to get out of this one. His entire plan appeared to go up in smoke rather quickly. He realized one person who could help him, Senator Agnot. Yes, the senator, after all they were very much alike and Baltar planned to use that to his advantage.

End Part 6

Continued in Part 7


End file.
